Just a quick addendum to Dutch4's excellent warning about fake coins coming out of China.

Apparently, the Numismatic Yellow Menace has also added fake Morgan Dollars to its highly profitable line of counterfeit Trade Dollars. I was browsing the Morgan listings on ebay a couple of weeks ago, and saw an 1885-CC listed as BU with a ridiculous bid of like $1.20! This seemed quite a bargain given that Greysheet bid price on a BU 1885-CC is about $525!

Anyway, I wanted to get one so that I could report these coin thugs to ebay, so I ultimately paid about $10 for the coin and (yikes!) $30 for the shipping via EMS. When it arrived, I knew that something just wasn't right about it- the coin seemed too lite for silver, and the CC mintmark looked just a bit too sharp and too small.

Since I'm not a professional in this field, I showed the coin around to some of my favorite dealers at a local coin show to get their input. All admitted the counterfeit was extremely well done- it would easily fool a novice. The obverse is sharp and very passable. The Chinese used a 1921 Morgan die for Miss Liberty, but I certainly wouldn't have caught that. As I suspected, the CC mintmark was too tiny, and the weight came in substantially lower than a genuine Morgan, but, again, beginners could easily miss this.

So, I'm out about forty bucks, but if this little alert can keep even one new collector from buying a Chinese fake, it will be money well spent. It's a real shame ebay allows sales of counterfeit coins on what is a truly wonderful internet marketplace. They must have gotten numerous complaints over the past couple of months, yet still you see fake Chinese Trade Dollars and (now) Morgans by the score on their auction listings. Seems like Marshall Dillon's out of town, and Barney Fife's on duty!

Anyway, for all you new collectors- DON'T BUY COINS FROM CHINA! There are plenty of decent deals right here at home, and you're just going to waste your money and be greatly disappointed when it comes time to sell. And, yo, ebay! How about doing something about this ongoing fraud?